Exclusive DC preview: Oliver and Diggle team up to save Seattle in Green Arrow #34

Seattle is in flames as Richard Dragon and his crew of supervillains assert their dominance, but things are about to shift in the heroes’ favor, thanks to Oliver Queen’s trusty foam arrow. The last issue of Green Arrow ended with John Diggle getting thrown out of a window while strapped to a desk chair, but the man’s life is saved with a well-placed trick arrow, a gesture of kindness that helps mend the broken relationship between the two former partners. Now it’s time for the two of them to team up, kick ass, and save their city.

Writer Jeff Lemire, artist Andrea Sorrentino, and colorist Marcelo Maiolo have delivered a remarkable run on Green Arrow by turning to two major inspirations: Matt Fraction and David Aja’s Hawkeye and The CW’s Arrow. The former influenced the unconventional visual approach. The second played a large part in setting the tone of the story and the design of the characters, which aimed for more realism than most of DC’s current fare.

It’s been an excellent run, revitalizing a book that stumbled out of the gate with The New 52, but sadly, there are only two issues left. Lemire is departing to make room for incoming writers Andrew Kreisberg and Ben Sokolowski, two producers on Arrow, while the art team is jumping over to Marvel, where it’ll be working on the Uncanny X-Men Annual for November. But judging by this preview of next week’s Green Arrow #34, the creative team is going out on a high note, delivering more of the dynamic action and vivid artwork that have made this book so much fun.